Impulse type glass feeder



y 1936- G. R. HAUB/ IMPULSE TYPE GLASS FEEDER Filed May 15 INVENTOR m AAT%RNEY Patented July I 21, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MULSE GLASSFEEDER George B. Haub, Glenshawr la assignor to Shawkee ManufacturingCompany, Pittsburgh, -Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania 7 ApplicationMay is, 1933, Serial No; 670,829 4 Claims. (01. 49-55) shape of theglass gob beforeit is segregated from the mass of molten glass.

A further object of the invention is the pro;-

vision of means for obtaining arelatively wide.v

range of gbb sizes by simpleladjustment. means 15 which when set toadjusted positions shall maintain the size of the mold chargeindefinitely dur-- ing subsequent operation.

Still another object of the invention is the pro vision of v means forregulating the weight and 20 shape of the gob by varying the pressure onthe glass above the feeding orificein a .novel manner, and whichpressure regulation shall. be effective without varying the operation ofthe pressure or impulseproducing mechanism.

5 These and other objects of the invention will.

become more apparent from a consideration of the accompanying drawingconstituting a part hereof in which like reference characters desighatelike parts and in which the single figure is 30 \a verticalcross-sectional view taken longitudinally .01 a feeder mechanism andforehearthstructure and embodying the principles of this invention. V Inthe drawing, the reference numeral I desig- 35' hates the forehearthhaving side'walls'2 and a top wall 3, the latter being provided with. aburner port 4 for directing a. flame stream downwardly to the glass inthe forward portion of the hearth. The rear of the hearth communicateswith a. 40 source of molten glass such asa glass melting tank whichsupplies glass to theforehearth at a rate to maintain a constant levelof the glass as designated by the reference numeral 5.

'A feeder boot generally designated by the ref- 45 erence numeral 6constitutes an extension of the forehearth I and is preferably, althoughnot necessarily, an integrally formed'refractory block having aninclined bottom portion I, the end of which is contiguous with thesurface of the hearth 50 I forming a shoulder at 8 in alinement with theend 8 of the top wall' ill of the boot, the surfaces 8 and 8 beinginclined complementary to the inclined surface II ofa valve or stopperI2 which is mounted to assume two-positions, name- 55 iv. the positionshown which is the elevated position in which it is held" by a pin I3extending through an opening in a casting I4, and a lowered positionwhich brings the face -I I of the valve in seating engagement with thefaces 8 and 8 of the boot in which latter position it is also held 5' bythe pin I3 projected through the opening I5 provided in the casting.

The front portion of the boot has a sleeve-like projection I6 having acentral orifice I1 terminating into an enlarged impulse chamberdesignated by the reference numeral I8. Directly beneath the chamber I8is an opening I9 for receiving a refractory ring 28 having a feedingorifice 2| there-' in. A passage 22 extends from the impulse chamv berI8'to the glasspool'in the forehearth struc- .15

. ture, and this passage 22 constitutes a feed pas-- sage for conductingmolten glass from the forehearth to the impulse chamber and above thefeeding orifice 2|. To assure an adequate vol-- I ume of glass beingsupplied to the impulse chamber I8, the passage 22 is of maximum area,this being provided by making the passage flat and wide so as tominimize the distance from the passage 22 to the feeding orifice 2I. P

The block 6 is provided with a flue passage around the impulse chamberI8 and adjacent the orifice ring 20 to conduct the products ofcombustion from the burner port 4 downwardly around the block Ii to thechamber at the front of the block designated by the numeral 22from 0which it passes downwardly around thei block in the region of theimpulse chamber and orifice ring 20, thence into the chamber designatedby the numeral 23 from which it is conducted upwardly through .a stack24, thus bringing the hot gases in contact with the refactory parts inthe region where the proper thermal condition of the glass must bemaintained.

Connected to the refractorysleeve I8 is a conduit 25 havinga'T-connection leading to an ex-' pansion chamber 21 whichis in the formof a eylinder'closed at one end by a piston 28 which is mounted on ascrew shaft 29 having'a hand wheel 30, by means of which the piston 28in the cylinder 2'! may be adjusted, the-screw shaft 28 being journalledin a bracket- 3] ecured to th front end of the feeder boot, or it; paybe mounted in any other suitable manner. valve 32 is disposed betweenthe T-connection 26 and the expansion chamber 2'! to cut out the chamber2l'from the conduit 25. j I

The conduit 25 is extended to an'impulse member which consistsof aconical housing 88 having a flexible diaphragm 34 mounted there- I in,the diaphragm being actuatedby a rodllop-w'fifi V able shearingmechanism designated by the nu- ,meral 31 are provided beneath thefeeding orifice eratively connected to a drive mechanism generallydesignated by the reference numeral 36. A piston and cylinder or anyother pressure alternating device may be employed in place of thediaphragm. A pair'of shear blades or other suitto sever the extrudedgobs, and as the shearing operation must take place in timed-relationwith the extrusion process, the shear operating mechanism (not shown) isconnected to the impulse drive mechanism to be operative in'synchronousrelation with the impulses transmitted to the glass above the feedingorifice 2 I. The operation of the described mechanism is briefly asfollows:-'

pressure which is communicated to the expansion chamber 21 if the valve32 is open and to the impulse chamber l8 of the feeder boot. Upon thereturn stroke of plunger 35, the diaphragm 34 produces a auction orvacuum in the conduit 25, chamber 21, and impulse chamber l8 toproduce anegative pressure above theglass in the feeding orifice 2i.

' While it has been the gen'eral'understanding of those familiar withimpulse gob feederi'n'echa nisms that the weight of the gob extrudedinent from the following explanation.

creases with the length of the pressure or impulse stroke applied tothe-surface of the glass above the feeding orifice, I have found thatthisunderstanding is entirely incorrect and that the maximum amountofglass is extruded by ap-, plication of aminimum pressure'stroke to thesurface of the glass above the feeding orifice;

The correctness of'this theorywill become erro Obviously, an impulsefeeder extrudes a gob by theaction of gravity acting upon the moltenglass above the feeding orifice combined with the impulsesproducedchamber ll.

- The size of the gobthrough its transverse dimension is primarilycontrolled by the diameter of the feeding orifice, and if no impulsewereapplied to-the chamber II, the glass would feed by gravity through theorifice ii in a continuous. stream of a thickness less manure-diameterof the feeding orifice. The application of pressure to the glass .abovethe orifice supplements the gravity flow by forcing glass out at afaster-rate,

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pressure impulse and the subsequent application of negative pressure,the length, weight and shape of the gob iscontrolled.

1 have found that by lengthening the snare of the diaphragm therebyincreasing the in- ,tnsitynand duration of pressure; a gob of lessweightwill'be formed than if the stroke of the diaphragm be shortened,this being'accountable for by'the fact that on the return movementof thelongstroke,thevacuumismaintainedinthe caused tocontractbeneathand insidethe feeding orifice at which time the extruded glass is severed by theshear mechanism ll. vIBy regulatingtheitime'of application of theimpulse chamber l8 for a longer period of time, thus giving the glass inthe passage 12 less time to flow to the space above the feeding orifice,so that upon the subsequent application of the pressure stroke there 'isless glass available for feeding through the orifice 2|. Consequently,by utilizing a shorter stroke, the normal fiow of glass through the feedpassage 22, if of sufficient area, to the impulse chamber I8, is leastinterfered with so that the pressure impulse available on the shortstroke of the diaphragm will be more effective in extruding a largermass of glass for each impulse of the mechanism than where the longstroke impulse is utilized. a

As it would require complex mechanism to re u late the stroke of thediaphragm 34 or its actuating rod 35 to vary or regulate the shape andweight of the gobs, I vary the volume of air acted upon by, employingthe expansion chamber 2?! and the 20 simple screw adjusting mechanismfor movin 7 the piston "to-vary the size of the expansion chamber. I

By opening or closing valve .32, the chamber 21 can be cut-out entirelyor. connected into the 25 impulse conduit at will to give a wider rangeof operation to the impulse mechanism for different sized gobs, and bymeans of thescrew shaft 29.

very fine adjustments may be made for gob'shapes and weights which canbe maintained indefinitely so long as the thermal properties of theglass above the feeding orificef'are maintained .QOBSiiB-D mthBoperation.

Ihave found byexperience that in making six- 7 .teen-ounce bottles, atthe rate of seventeen per minute, utilising a two and one-eighth inchfeeding orifice, there will be a'weight, variation of one ouncebetweenthelong gob and short gob,- or in other words the long gob is producedby the short impulse stroke while the minimum weight or short gob isproduced by the long impulse stroke.

By means of the herein described mechanism, a wide range of gob sizesmay be produced by merely changing the orifice ring 29 and makinadjustment of the piston element 28 by means v ofthe hand wheel 3' tovary the intensity of the impulses applied tothe glass in the impulsechamber i0. I 1 I also attribute ul operation, over awide range of gobsizes without varying the stroke of the diaphragm, to the employment ofa minimum head of glass above the feeding orifice, the horizontal feed-e"(being flush with the feed ring- 20 as shown in the drawing. v

While I 'have herein shown and described one embodiment-ofthe-invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art thatvarious modiflcations may be 'madein the details of constructionfwithout'departing from .the principles herein set forth.

1.. Apparatus for segregating mold charges from a mass of molten glasscomprising a refractory block having afeeding chamber, a feeding orificebeneath? said chamber, a feed passagegleadin from a source of moltenglass to said chamber, an impulse mechanism, a passagev connecting saidmechanism and feeding chamber, an expansion chamber connected in saidpassage, and'means for varying the volume of said last named chamber.

2. for segregating mold charges from a mass of molten glass comprising arefractory block having a feeding, chamber, a feeding orifice afeed"passage leading fromasourceofmoltenglasstosaidchambenrg an impulsemechanism, a passage connecting said mechanism and feeding chamber, anexpansion chamber connected in said passage, a piston in said chamber,and adjustable means for moving the piston in said chamber.

3. Apparatus for segregating mold charges from a mas of molten glasscomprising a forehearth communicating with a source of glass supply, afeeding spout at one end thereof having a submerged feeding orifice ofsubstantially the diameter of the desired mold charge, a reciprocatingimpulse mechanism and a conduit above the feed orifice leading to saidimpulse mechanism and being of substantially the diameter of the feedorifice, and means for varying the total volume of the passage betweenthe impulse mechanism and the surface of the glass independently of thelength of stroke of said impulse mechanism.

4. Apparatus for segregating mold charges from a mass of molten glasscomprising a forehearth communicating with a source of glass supply, afeeding spout ,at one end thereof having a submerged feeding orifice, areciprocating impulse mechanism and a conduit above the said orificeleading to said impulse mechanism, and means for varying the impulsepressure effective on the glass in the feeding orifice independently ofthe pressure impulses produced bythe said impulse mechanism.

GEORGE R. HAUB.

